Thruway Authority head to Conduent: Start fixing cashless tolling

Lohud’s Editorial Board sits down with Matt Driscoll, the acting executive director of the NYS Thruway Authority.
John Meore/lohud

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State Thruway acting Director Matthew Driscoll responds to questions during an editorial board meeting about cashless tolls and the amnesty program at The Journal News/lohud headquarters in White Plains on Jan. 17.(Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)Buy Photo

The head of the state Thruway Authority is asking one of the contractors behind the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge's troubled cashless-tolling system to step up its game — including getting out bills faster.

In a Jan. 19 letter, authority Acting Executive Director Matthew Driscoll told Conduent's transportation general manager, Don Hubicki, that the company needed to address customer-service issues now ahead of the planned Thruway-wide cashless-tolling roll-out in 2020.

"It is my expectation that our customers receive the same high-level of customer service with Conduent that we strive to provide our motorists with every day," Driscoll wrote. "However, as you know, a number of motorists continue to report numerous issues when working with the Tolls By Mail customer-service center."

In addition to the lag time between crossing the bridge and receiving a bill, Driscoll identified an apparently understaffed call center and long telephone wait times as issues, plus confusion over how and when to use the Tolls by Mail website to pay.

Cashless tolling went live on the Tappan Zee Bridge in April 2016 and continued over its replacement span, the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.

The system is designed to allow drivers to continue at highway speeds and either pay the toll via E-ZPass or have their license plate photographed and have a toll bill mailed.

Drivers have complained they have not received bills until they have racked up late fees, sometimes in the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Others complain tolls are not posted online in a timely fashion or conflicting messages about what to do regarding their bills. Some have even had their vehicle registrations suspended.

There are $8 million outstanding tolls across the bridge, $5.2 million of which is eligible for amnesty. The remainder are tolls from commercial vehicles.

Two weeks ago, Thruway officials said they have "daily" conversations with the company, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who together have contracted with Conduent to run a unified tolling back end. Since then, the Thruway says it has had regular conversations with Conduent.

The MTA completed the switch to cashless tolling across its two tunnels and seven bridges last year. The Port Authority has been asked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to examine cashless tolling and currently has the system outfitted on the under-construction Bayonne Bridge.

Tolls are the biggest portion of the Thruway Authority's $750 million-plus annual revenue and about 20 percent of that generally came from tolls across the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Will this system work? We'll keep checking in with the Thruway Authority. Tell us your stories of working with the amnesty program by emailing digital@lohud.com with the subject line "Amnesty" or calling 914-510-2181 and leaving a message.